Tenn., Wis. ask GM to reopen factories

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Tenn., Wis. ask GM to reopen factories

Officials offer incentives for carmaker to resume work

BY TIM HIGGINS

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Tennessee and Wisconsin officials have approached General Motors about incentives to reopen assembly plants, according to a company official.

As part of a possible plan to increase its production capacity, GM executives have discussed ramping up work at plants that have not been identified.

GM has stopped work at factories in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Janesville, Wis. But unlike other unwanted facilities, it did not jettison the facilities in bankruptcy.

The automaker lacks sufficient capacity at its Canadian factory to make enough Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers to meet demand. GM North America President Mark Reuss also has hinted that the automaker could be looking for a place to increase capacity for future vehicles that GM anticipates "are going to be really hot."

After recent comments by Reuss about wanting to discuss the possibility of government incentives, officials in Tennessee and Wisconsin reached out to GM, Diana Tremblay, GM's top manufacturing executive, told the Free Press in an interview.

"They have come forward to us to tell us that they want to meet with us," Tremblay told the Free Press during an interview at GM's Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant.

"They are definitely interested in getting their foot in the door," she said.

She said that if the U.S. market returns to previous levels, the company won't have enough production capacity. "I don't think we're quite there yet. ... But hey, maybe we will be," she said.

On Wednesday, officials from Tennessee and Wisconsin wouldn't comment.

In Orlando earlier this month, Reuss said GM is looking at options to increase production of vehicles and that could include ramping up activity at plants that have not been identified.

"I'm not ready to say which plants because we're still looking at which ones and how to do it and that would be a conversation that would not just be internal to GM but also (with) some of the states where those plants are," Reuss said.

"What we want to do is something that may not be traditional in terms of how we do it and how we staff it and how we bring it on and off."

link:

http://www.freep.com/article/20100225/BUSINESS01/2250342/1331/business01/Tenn.-Wis.-ask-GM-to-reopen-factories